The instant noodle is ordinarily prepared by frying a plurality of noodles divided per a certain quantity (i.e., ordinarily a meal) at one sitting after steaming these noodle in a similar manner, in which event each of the divided noodle is generally fried in a receptacle having the same internal capacity as the noodle capacity. However, in the event the noodles are contained in a relatively deep cup, frying is commonly accomplished by putting the noodles in a larger receptacle than the noodle capacity so that the finally-made fried noodles have no half-fried portions therein in virtue of the free movement of the noodles in the receptacle. With such a conventional technique, however, the buoyancy of the noodles results in the lower portion of the product being loosely packed while the upper portion is densely packed. The loosely packed noodles are likely to be broken, resulting in lowering of the product yield.